My guess would be done correctly it feeds the soil biology, which does the job of breaking down organic matter/minerals for release to the plants. So it’s more about soil health, rather than just NPK.
I think the point of weed tea is that nutrients become available after breaking down in the soil. Noting the JADAM method, as others have mentioned. I've observed noticeable benefits after feeding plants with weed tea made from their own plant waste. Strawberries with huge fruit output. Dandelions 18" tall after feeding with dandelion tea. It certainly raises questions in support of a hypothesis.
@Chris Beebe It makes sense when you consider that in nature a plant takes nutrients from its own deadfall (or other plants it thrives alongside) without any human intervention.
It’s very interesting. I met a guy two summers back that only fed his cannabis their trimmings. He passed all the test of a marketable product. Great size, superior nose, organic, fought bugs. Incredible
Properly brewed weed tea must go through the same process that a fish tank does when it initially starts, for the water to be used for fertilizer. Begin with ammonia (from decomposing finely chopped weeds) and bacteria (nitrosomonas and nitrobacter) converts it first to nitrite and then to nitrate AKA plant food. That process is aerobic and must be aerated at all times to keep the bacteria alive. It keeps the smell to almost zero. That process takes about two months to get to the nitrate production phase. Then you can start to use the water for fertilizer. Replace the water used each time. Keep adding a little more pulverized weeds each time you use it back into the mix. Repeat two to three times a week. Essentially it is a regenerating aquatic compost tea made from scratch occurring under water for maximum efficiency. Aeration is the key to no smell and good fertilizer. A home made bottom under gravel filter used with 2 air pumps and lava rock in a blue plastic 55 gallon barrel with a mix of about 50/50 water to weeds starter batch every spring is what I use. I admit I have never done the tests you ask for. Maybe you could try the technique for more content.
The indians dug a 1 foot hole by hand the size of thier hand, put in a fish head, threw dirt on top of that then planted a corn seed at the top. So as the corn grew, its roots would eventually reach the fishhead(fertilizer) and BING BAMM BOOM corn on the cobb. Is what I was taught in 3rd grade.
my tea is black; there is hardly any leftover plant mass when its done; test trace minerals, like titanium in nettle tea; make a grow test, water 1 plant with water and other with water + tea and compare it after some moths; you dont need NPK and you dont use compost for NPK; its mostly carbon/caries and diverse soil life/microorganisms that matters
It's mostly an anaerobic bacterial compost tea, indeed. I'm not sure of the benefits, especially versus aerobically aerated bacterial compost tea..?! As a fertilizer, and using "Weeds", that's the definition of a "Weed Tea" here, this video has shown it has no fertilizer effects. The anaerobic bacteria will actually feed on any fertilizer, if any was derived from the Weeds in the "Weed Tea". Great video, showing how to get actual affirmation of whatever "fertilizer" you may trying to create, as well! Thanks for the real work!👍💯🙏✌️
The scond year of my first veg gardens I didn't add more compost. Plants started to look pale when growth started to take off. I got worried,and filled pales and buckets with lawn clippings, and let it sit for just a few days. The grass was cut from the garden area, not a very large area compared to the beds themselves. I stirred thoroughly, and watered with this green soup. The plants perked up quickly, and I could clearly see where I had run out of the liquid, these plants were still less green than the others. I doubt tha I had heard of "weed tea" then, but when we make silage, which is basically the same fluid, we spray it on the fields as fertilizer. It creates algal growth in waterways if we don't disperse it over a larger area. This liquid contains quite a bit of sugar, wich feeds soil bacteria in a similar way to what root exudates does. Fermenting it for a month would probably consume most of the sugars though, and again, it has enough NPK to create issues in waterways. It is also possible that the nutrients in your tea was bound up in living obligate anaerobic bacteria, and that it would be released when these die when you add them to the soil. But that's just a guess on my part. Btw, the liquid should foam if it is high in nitrogen.
I have been using weed tea for 2 yrs. The longer you soak it the better it is. I use 3 5 gallon bucket with rain water. I use grass clipping, any type of weeds pulled from my yard, leaves from plants in my garden, banana peels, kitchen scraps, my garden is thriving and my harvest are great and delicious. It's not a myth. It works when done right. Yes it stinks but my garden loves it.
@@canadiangemstones7636 Sorry number? I did not send it in for analysis. I just use the method the God use. When the seasons change the leaves fall and decompose in the forest and feeds the soil. Same concept, but soaking them in rain water in a closed bucket works faster. Also I chop everything first. I have a small garden. Maybe this is not something for a acre garden. But for my 25ft x 25ft bed it works. I can take the time and let it decompose properly. I don't use sticks, only grass clipping, leaves, banana peel, weeds from my yard, veggie peels, egg shells, etc. I also have a bucket with a drain that I let decompose on it on without adding water. Once the bucket is filled I add the water, close up the container. Let it sit for 30 days, sometimes longer. Stirring once or twice a week. I keep a rotation. Whatever I'm making my garden responds to it in a very positive manner. Lush green plants, very delicious veggies. That is the outcome I'm looking for. No Chemical Fertilizers ruining the soil. Build the soil and the plants can uptake the nutrients they need. Hope this helps. Try my way and then do an analysis. Hope you get better numbers. Let me know.
@@Sylviar357 Yeah but these are just stories. Our man in the video above actually tested it and didnt find anything. Now you can say he tested the wrong thing - for example it might be that what weed tea does is work the same as if you were regularly adding compost - but clearly theres a problem with the idea as it stands.
@LMcAwesome your man also noted how at least one test failed to detect something that was known to be present... so test failure being an obvious factor really makes all of his results questionable... I can say that the 50 gallon drum I've been adding and taking from for many months has decomposed a lot. The only material that's recognizable is only the newest added stuff... good weed tea is something you start and keep going continually. When things actually start decomposing, that's when you see the difference.
@@meettheworld6241 So true. I just keep adding material to it. I grow organic and this team feeds my garden and it is flourishing. I will always use compost tea. It's basically free to make. Long as you have a lawn, weeds, garden and it rains, you will have organic fertilizer for your families food.
I've had 5 drums filled with different types of plant matter such as grass, weeds, bamboo leaves, seaweed and a mixed barrel its been 3 years since I filled the barrels and this year I start planting.
We used grass clippings and did leave them soaking for over a month. I did not dilute it. Our okra plants “died” while we were on vacation, but watering them with this stuff at full strength brought them back! They made full crops of okra all over again.
So, the extra water they got - whether this stuff or just plain water - was enough to revive them. Have you done a test to see, you know, repeat the same conditions but when you return from holiday use only tap water?
I read way down in the comments to see if anyone asked my question. Where is the leaf mold? Bacterias easy to grow, feeds on nitrogen, nitrigen is high when greens are added. Microbes are aquatic, and leaf mold jumps into the water, believe it or not. Fungus is older than bacteria, and it started its life in earth under water. Fungus is the slow breakdown of plant materials, and release a lot of nutrients. Fungus can extract minerals from stone and maie them plant availabe. Skipping adding leaf mold is your mistake. You can use high quality compost as the digester as well, hopefully fungal compost, not pyrolitic. Chickenpoo liquid fertilser does it all on its own, it has everything it needs to do both parts of the decomposition. NPK takes care of itself. You can also use mre tyan 1 bucket of randomly chosen weeds. Jerusalem Artichoke turns into a pest control sauce. Chickenpoo, and anything that came from a blood pumping, bone havin creature is a phosphorous rich fert. Fish has fast decomposition tissues, and has everything a plant needs in it. Cannabis can be fermented and fed back to cannabis. Feed them the greens and roots and seed toyoung plants for Nitrogen, and hormones, and feed them buds and leaves and seeds during flowering season. Does this stuff click at all? I just learned, My results of my soil i create is cannabis seeds sprouting in less than 24hrs and 3 weeks later a foot tall. My oawn is deep green and neighbours admit its the best lawn on the street. I buy nothing from a store except buckets and Co2 breathers to make it in. Mimic Nature, do swamps have bubblers? BP oil spill was eaten by the biome in the great everglades, and they were astonished. I wasnt. An ancient fungal network, nematodes, arthropods, and thousands of trillions of bacerias ate it.
Well, it depends which weeds or plants you are using, and the quality of the soil they are growing in to begin with. It’s a good way to get rid of weeds. Then through into the compost pile.
The proof is in the pudding and since I've been adding fermented tea to my 28, 25 gallon container vegetable garden, it has never done as well as it is now. I'm not saying it was doing amazing before, but it has certainly made a noticeable improvement.
I know many folks who just use Jadam/KNF rotting weeds and vegetables for their garden. They add other inputs, such as leaf mold to break down more. I've seen the proof, especially on their cannabis. They did a side by side comparison with using super soil and organic, high-quality nutrients known to produce high-quality cannabis vs living soil and jadam inputs. Both sets of plants grew vigorously. However, the living soil jadam had less pest pressure and appeared healthier overall. The yield was higher as well at the end, and the terpenes (smells) were more complex. The biggest noticeable effect was the price. 430% less expensive.
I use plastic corrugated tree tubes nailed/plastic tied to a post with a bucket under. Have 2 one for Comfrey and one for nettles, mostly in the UK we have enough rain to keep this set up working, the plants rot down and just keep filling the top, a couple of long nails to stop it all falling out the bottom, keep it going all season.
This is some great testing and great content. However I would like to add that when adding things to your soil it's not necessarily all about looking for NPK but more about adding organic materials to the microorganisms in your soil to help them thrive. By making this tea you are adding organic materials to your soil which will feed millions of bacteria and other microorganisms such as haematodes. By doing this they will create more nutrients for the plants for the plants when the plants tell them what they need
Maybe a stupid question but wouldn't adding the weeds directly to the soil add as much or more organic materials? Also if we want to encourage soil life wouldn't we want the microorganisms in the actual soil to do the breaking down instead of the bucket dwellers?
yes to pretty much all. People are trying to speed up the process. Based on an overwhelming weight of observation im guessing this tea method does work. Just not the way this experimenter expected or tested for. Not a stupid question at all. Edited to add: using wom bins to break down organic matter DOES speed the process up, as do active composting operations, but a lot of folks dont want to do those steps for varios reasons.
Science is great. It either humbles us or we resort to denial. Of course we should take industry-funded science with a grain of salt and and definitely consider any major biases. Thanks for the info
I use grass clippings and banana tree leaves mixed in a tea now and then but I always use worm castings black strap molasses and kelp other times I use other meals in there and I have good luck
I have been making sting nettle soup for over 40 years. I put it on straight to my plants after it rains and if there is dry weather after the rain for a while. My plants grow very nice and the stench keeps pests away.
To get your weed tea to ferment and extract the most nutrients, chop your weeds finely to increase surface area , I also bruise mine before chopping , I also use an aquarium air pump and air stone to oxygenate it for a few days when first starting it. Adding comfrey and fish heads also helps tremendously , and trust me you'll want that stuff pretty far down wind of you as it's working off.
Ive heard people using it to jump start a compost pile, saying that the surplus of microorganisms in the weed tea supercharges the decomposition process. You should do a video about that. Make two separate pile of the same materials but add a bucket of weed tea to one amd monitor the results. I think it would make a great videos.
also a myth. if your compost pile isnt made of disinfected material (which it isnt) then it has a brutal amount of microorganisms in it. You can measure this by mixing it properly to 1:30 N:C and checking temperature 1-2 days later. It will be maxed out.
Lol, now I have a stink pot of bacteria that I need to get rid of. Wish I had seen this earlier. I’ve seen another method that used brown sugar to extract nutrients. Have no idea, but guess I will stick with granular.
Swamp bucket does a few things. It kills weedy/seedy waste better than the compost pile. It saturates woody waste with swampy moisture, softening it and making it accessible and appetizing to various digesters. The water contains the same kind of dissolved minerals and nutrients that would wash into the soil during a rain, but concentrated. The water is full of aquatic microbes which die when aerated in soil, liberating their nutrient content and feeding other digesters. I use a 100L rubbermaid trashbin. I add woody or weedy yard waste (especially thorny waste) loosely to the top of the bin, and fill with water to the top of the bin. I throw in a BTI puck for mosquito control and leave the top open to the rain. I freely add new waste if the bin will accept it. After it's been sitting a while, I draw some of the liquid to water my plants, then top up with collected rainwater. I keep cycling the water this way, occasionally stirring the solids, until the solid material is quite black and soft and slimy. Using a pitchfork I lift out some portion of the soggy solids and remove to a compost cone or empty trashbin. I find the earwigs and pillbugs go berserk for soggy swamp solids. By the fall, the woody solids have rotted enough to go under the mower with the fall leaves. In this way I am able to dispose of troublesome woody waste, and provide a kind of 'accelerated rainfall' to my plants.
So I guess it would be good to take some soil, split it into two parts, inoculate one part with the weed tea and aerate it, letting the water microbes die. Then do the nutrient tests on both soil samples.
Swamp? Only one person on yt I know who calls it that. Most people refer to it as coming from Korean Natural Farming or JADAM. Have you done any scientific testing to prove the dying bacteria release the nutrients or are you just spouting what your garden hero said?
I have the same thing going on in a Rubbermaid trash can. I did it by accident, though. I put weeds in that trash can and it has been getting water since last year. I haven't done anything to it. So should I scoop out some of the water and dilute it to water my vegetable garden? Or should I just dump it all in my compost pile, which has wood chips from 1-2 years ago?
I checked the pH and ec with my Blue lab pen it was a pH of 7.2 and ec was very high. I fermented it for 7-8 months with ground egg shells. In a temp of 80f. The odor goes away some but not much. It does work well
What compound does the soil test look for? Which form of nitrogen? Plant matter in water breaks down to ammonia, to break it down further in water you need to use microorganisms to break it down to nitrite an nitrate. But I think plants can use ammonia as their source of N.
I appreciate your science approach, but was two weeks enough? I also question the materials put into the sample. I think a larger variety of plant material and longer time would change the result, as would aeration.
1) I used 2 weeks because that is what most others recommend. Longer is better. 2) The problem is that the plant material does not decompose that quickly. That is true of all plant material so what you use won't change the results. Decomposition is a slow process. 3) Few people aerate weed tea.
I came here from another video using the JADAM method. They said 10 day would be sufficient but some people might need to do it for 14 days, aka 2 weeks. That is the recommended length of time by many. Also, it is said it doesn't matter what you use, even just grass on its own.
Everything I know about fermentation intended for human consumption tells me that it does indeed matter what duration, what materials, and what method you use. I think when people say 'two weeks' and 'whatever you have', they do this in a spirit of 'anything is better than nothing'. And for a home gardener just trying compost tea and not sure what exactly to do, paralyzed by the myriad choices, it doesn't really matter if they hit the most efficient method for maximum effect - that can come later, or if they're satisfied, never. But I wouldn't write the whole concept of weed tea off simply because the average gardener isn't that great at it. I have struggled to make apple cider vinegar for several years in a row. I don't have dedicated equipment, I don't have a great attention span for tending to it over time, and I ve never done it right so I don't know what I'm looking for all the way through. But it would be a mistake for me to write off the concept of successfully fermenting my own vinegar just because my method is off and my inexperience is showing. I think there's value in the video, but I can't consider it a definitive 'debunking' of the idea. There's too many variables, and not enough established values. Soil biology is complicated. I'm not ready to completely ignore anecdotal evidence from hundreds of gardeners without a roughly equivalent set of evidence that they're misattributing their results to a different cause.
I use my kitchen scraps in a bucket, then I cover to the top of the bucket of water.. Leave it on my south facing deck for about a week, and man is it good stuff , my plants blow up a few days after I give them this. I’ve also thrown in manure…works just as you’d think it would except it’s more bio available to them❤
I found this very informative but as a Bachelor of Science I have to say a few things off the top of my head. No offence or lack of respect is intended at all. I'm still experimenting with weed tea. The following are brief points. My main reason for drowning the weeds is to kill them before putting them on the garden. I am trying using the diluted liquid for watering plants, and the hopefully killed weeds as mulch. The lack of nitrogen is not a problem as I can get that from diluted urine which is sterile unless you have a severe bladder infection. An option is adding urine to the weed tea at the outset, which might help the weed materials to break down Water from your well or bore is a good control for you, but a lot if not the majority of us will be using rain water or town water. If you generally water with your ground water your soil probably has plenty of phosphorus. A good experiment should be repeatable by others and ground water is a variable. The lower concentration of phosphate in the weed tea compared to the fertilizer is also a function of comparative dilution. The problem with using ground water as the control is also highlighted here. I have my weeds drowning in a 240 litre wheelie bin which was loosely filled to about 2/3 capacity with weeds and am going to try scooping off a little liquid starting in a month, and topping up with tank rainwater as I go until the liquid is pretty clear. My control will be a garden bed watered with tank water only, and I will judge by comparing the harvests of a variety of plants common to both beds. Any other comparison is more academic than related to desired outcome. I will eventually dry out the solids in the blazing sun and use them as mulch. I don't have a lot of space and I need the food supply, so I can't be as scientific as I would like to be. Maybe you or someone can try the "proof is in the pudding" approach with a number of beds for comparison of rain water, weed tea, and commercial fertilizer ( which perhaps gets its nitrogen from urea - why pay for pee?) and other combinations. Another consideration is burning the residue and using the ash in an informed manner, but of course there is the downside to burning the carbon. I hope these rough points provide food for thought and that your gardens out there provide food for your healthy bodies. I definitely give this video the thumbs up.
You raise some valid points. There may be other benefits to weed tea besides just NPK. Looking at harvest yield as an end point is a good idea, so long as it is properly controlled. I would imagine peeing into your weed tea would bring the smell to a whole new level!
Measuring the impact on yield directly is important. But measuring and standardizing other things is too. Particularly if you want to identify the "why" behind it. Making sure you grow the same crops and that the other elements of your management is the same is important. I might consider doing a direct bed comparison in a section of my farm in 1-2 years or so though. But, I could probably measure the source nutrients directly. And also measure the effect on microbe counts and respiration. But, you can get a Haley test done to get the microbial biomass, respiration, and nutrient amounts from a lab. If you just took a couple beds and experimented with before and soil tests that would be informative. On a long term, any of the microbal stuff would need a 1 year study term Since, they are heavily effected by temperature and other seasonal factors so measuring at the same time of year gives a better base for comparison. I am currently more interested in comparing the effect of multiple methods of starting new beds and the immediate and 1-year effects on the soil nutrient levels and microbe counts based on the method used. As then once I confirm a best method with a local experiment then I can make all of the new beds on the next round of expansion use that method.
"My main reason for drowning the weeds is to kill them before putting them on the garden." That's a valid reason, but is not the reason behind why others make this or the claims they make. They are saying it's the water that makes the difference and even throw away the weed mass instead of using it. As a science person, you would know what you are doing not testing the actual hypothesis - that the nutrients are unlocked into the water and therefore, the water is the nutrient dense source and instead, you are using a known solution (tossing the weeds back on the bed) to prove a hypothesis that makes no claims about that method. Everyone who claims it works are claiming it is the liquid alone that is key. How can using tap water for the control test be an issue when it was stated it was being used BECAUSE that was what had been used to make the weed tea? Using the same source of water for the control as you use in the weed tea is extremely scientific because you are testing water vs water with weeds added - effectively ruling out the water and then comparing only the difference between the two. You say you will be using tank water - but aren't you going to test weed tea made from tank water vs just tank water? That's the same test that was done in this video.
Thanks for the info...I'm going to test my stinky brew. 😊 I collect seaweed every spring, rinse it, blend it and stick it in a bucket with a lid. I stir it periodically and let it sit for a couple months. It's easy and the plants seem to be benefitting.
A few guys on the allotments make nettle tea. But they have it in a water butt for two or three months at least before they use it. Also, because they have nettles growing right beside them anyway. When it's done, nothing is left but the fibres. So I'd say they are getting something out of it. But they only use it to supplement their regular fertilizer use, or on things like cabbages or other brassicas. I think they would be much better off just going in the watering can. Filling that up with water, and then using it on their plants.
Two or three months? Dude I'm concerned that my Nettle manure turned bad after one month. The smell turned from the sweet lemonade like aroma to that baby shit after it was done after a week, to bad breath smell later on. Could it be the anaerobic bacteria won and the manure turned bad?
they make tea with fish tank bubblers also don't know if that helps but I don't bother I just use compost and granular organic fertilizer and fish emulsion and use no dig method works great no need for it and after my beds are established I only use compost
I think this is a good start. Following the line of thought that the bacteria rob the tea of soluble nutrients, I would be curious to see the tea tested over time to see if any P or K is released early and then disappear as the bacteria really take over. maybe with a better test kit. cheers for using controls!
Great video. I have been using the green tea method as I have farmers friends and they spread very rapidly so was using the green tea method to kill the seed heads. Just pulling them up and throwing them back into the garden, the normally re- root and if they don't, they drop thousands of seed heads and you have a much bigger issue than when you started. Any idea how to recycle these but kill off the seed heads? (and composting does not work on these seeds). Thanks.
I love the video. I've heard it said that the advantage (especially with aerated tea) is the micro-organisms more than the nutrients. I *seem* to have an improvement when I used to apply that to a lawn... at least as effective as the expensive products you can buy to stimulate breakdown of thatch, especially considering I used chemical fertilizer. (Though it did require regular application, which is a lot of mulch water.) Like you, I found it better to simply place some steer-plus (composted steer manure and wood chips) atop certain beds. I figure watering over a season or two releases the nutreients over time without the stink. The best "weed tea" I found was decades ago, where a friend trapped the water runoff from his rabbit dung in a pit.
When one points out the low level of nutrients - believers in compost tea point out it is the microbes. It is not. www.gardenmyths.com/compost-tea-does-it-work/
@@Gardenfundamentals1 The study you cite performed an analysis on aerated compost tea, which would kill all anaerobic microbes, then claimed tea has few microbes present. This is misleading methodology, especially since the root zone of all plants is anaerobic, or aeroohilic (very low oxygen). The symbioses from anaerobic microbes, especially fungi, would be completely wiped out by aerating the tea. I encourage you to please read peer reviewed published scientific literature that is CURRENT. Microbes do matter in agriculture. It is a scientific fact.
@@amateur-alchemist if the root zone was anaerobic that would not be a good thing as in the rhizosphere roots take in oxygen. Anaerobic would be a poor condition for a plant to live in so could you please explain yourself more on what you mean?
@@StringofPearls55 I have reread, it says “anaerobic” just before your low oxygen point. Now look up the definition of anaerobic. The comment didn’t make sense. Roots absorb oxygen, if there’s no oxygen, would that make sense? No, the plant would be dead.
I've been searching high and low for a video like this. Thank you so much. I knew there had to be a science behind this fertilizer tea method. I have tried it. I really haven't noticed any difference. I didn't know that it should help if the tea decomposed a lot longer. I guess I was looking at this from a self-sustaining angle. However, while I've got the money I'm going back to miracle grow! 🤣🤣🤣 Thank you so much for taking the time!
Miracle Grow disrupts the microbiology in the soil, which is important for the Nitrogen cycle. I would recommend organic fertilizers like Guano or Fish fertilizer. Best wishes 🌺
@hulmil but they cost more in the long run. You are dependent on them as long as you have a garden. Using organic - which isn't expensive at all- you build up the natural ecosystem and the garden will take care of itself. I use one bag of Spaghnum peat moss for $16 @ Home Depot, with 6 bags of Steer Manure ($1.88 a bag) mix it up and put it in my yard. I live in the desert where we rarely get rain and the soil is sandy clay. I use a $25 bottle of fish fertilizer that lasts 3 months. So it's not expensive at all. And when you understand the science behind it-- the Nitrogen Cycle, microbes, and how ecosystems work, it doesn't make any sense at all to use synthetic, especially with all the harm it causes our environment.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 I agree from a chemical perspective. The base nutrients the plants will take in are identical. But, those aren't necessarily the only thing in them. Although, non-nutrient molecules potentially might have negative effects or more complicated molecules might act as fuel for micro-organisms that can promote a slower release of nutrients. As long as you aren't worried about potential contamination issues, then I wouldn't expect organic fertilizer to be better simply because it is organic. It is important to have slower releasing nutrient sources as well. Such as compost, mulch, or general organic matter content. Your video also doesn't really touch how the ratios of nutrients. And also the carbon to nitrogen ratio is pretty important. Having too fast of a nutrient release can result in nutrients being leached away by rain before the plants can use them. Although fertilizing as close as possible to planting, watering before fertilizing, and timing it during a time when heavy rain isn't expected can mitigate that. Or simply using a mix of them. I would expect the biggest difference between fertilizer types would be in how long and fast they release nutrients. Outside of the chemical side, I have been reading some of the literature, and the exact effects of particular types of fertilizer and various amounts is an area with a significant amount of scientific study. Both for grains and vegetables. But, there are at least about 3 dozen studies that I know of that investigate the links of various types of fertilizer to microbe populations. Many of which involve long-term analysis over 10,15, or 20 year periods. The form of fertilizer and speed of release definitely seems to have an impact. Although, I haven't seen a cohesive hypothesis of the details and the whys. We do have direct comparisons of the results of particular nutrient mixes and fertilizer forms. There were some particularly interesting 15 year studies out of china that compared manure to specific mixes of chemical fertilizers which similar ratios of macro nutrients. It wasn't a clear win for "organic fertilizer" in any way. Compost in particular when applied in larger amounts had a negative effect on soil microbes and respiration rate. However, there seems to be a pattern of fresh manure from any source having a greater positive impact on microbial biomass and a-diversity. Although, some other chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides were shown to have negative effects on soil microbes as well. And different ratios and mixes of synthetic fertilizer also had fairly different effects on soil microbes. With some having a negative effect, some positive, and others relatively neutral. It seems to be an active area of research where we have learned a lot of small things. But, most general sweeping claims I hear for particular solutions don't seem that compatible with the research. And it is made more complicated since we don't really know how much of a difference elevated microbial populations has on plant growth generally. Although, there are studies that go into how being deficient in microbes in various ways can cause problems. There is more reputable information available on their impact on decomposition rate. Although, that is also highly dependent on temperature and some other factors. Many plants actively feed some types of fungi and are less adapt at processing and obtaining nutrients without them. Brassicas are a notable rare exception there. And tests with potted plants have shown that sterilized or even soil with significantly reduced levels of micro-organisms results in reduced plant growth rate and biomass. For compost Tea, I haven't looked much on RUclips about it, But the books I saw talking about it suggested that the fermentation and anaerobic brewing should happen for more like 8 months to a year not a couple weeks. I would expect most of the nutrients in the weeds to still be in them after only a couple weeks. I haven't brewed any of that yet. I still intend to, but I think I will get them tested for nutrients and microbe content to see if scientifically it is actually worth the effort. I do think your advice about simply throwing them back in the soil makes sense. Unless the weed is rhizomes or has gone to seed already. Throwing weeds back into the soil is good for the soil but can result in higher weed pressure. So, in my view if the costs are low and results worthwhile, then finding a way to still use that can be valuable. A compost that was intensively managed and gets hot enough to kill any weed seeds can be an effective strategy though. But, if you don't do that well you can just have more weeds when you do that. I have bought local compost that ended up causing more weeds and having unkilled weed seeds in it before.
This is pretty interesting but as some have commented you should have added some leaf mold (the logic being that its bacteria will help break down the weeds). Anyway I did that. This is my experience if anyone is interested: I put weeds (whole) into large mason jars and added water. After a few weeks added leaf mold. Had them for a good 7 months now. Yes they stink. The mistake I made is that I filled up the jars too much and when fermentation began the water started getting out along with the foul smell. Definitely don't do this inside your house! I plan to use the "tea" this spring and summer and hope it helps at least a bit. But I noticed something interesting: I got 5 jars in total and 2 of them have been fermenting almost all along while the others stopped fermenting after 2-3 months. Any guesses why that may be? Also they smell differently. The dead ones have more of a sour smell. The fermenting ones just stink to high heaven. I guess the more fermentation the better, right? But why should only some of them keep fermenting? I don't even remember having done anything different with those two... Could they somehow have different bacteria? It might be interesting to test both groups and compare the nutrient contents, eh? Thanks anyway! Great videos!
this test only shows nitrate. in the nitrogen cycle bacteria converts ammonia to nitrites and then nitrites are converted to nitrates. You would likely see massive amounts of ammonia if you tested for that. This ammonia can quickly become nitrates when added to healthy soil.
You mean from the JADAM method? The method in this video is the KNF method, JADAM uses the EM1 and guess what - it also stinks. I've seen quite a few JADAM fans make similar videos and all say it stinks.
Very interesting! I think it depends on what you put in it. Some plants are more nutricious than others and I think it give your plants some extra boost in the summer. I also think some plants are not worth the effort and they will give of their nutrients when you just leave them decompose on the ground.
What you put in does not affect the outcome when it's about the method of getting nutrients out. If the method is useless, then it just means you leave more nutrition locked up in the rotting weed mass.
I run my comfrey through a meet grinder or use ground alfalfa and kelp meal. I use lactic acid and molasses to ferment in a container with and air lock. It has a sweet sour smell and the low ph keeps it stable.
@@francismeowgannou5322 sorry my comment got removed but I'll try to paste it again from the website. We recommend doing a 4 week fermentation to ensure full extraction of the alfalfa. There are organic acids produced by the microbes in EM-1® including lactic acid and carbonic acid. There is also a small amount of alcohol produced (by the yeast) during the first few weeks of fermentation that will speed up the extraction process. Not to worry, the alcohol is digested in about a month by another microbe in the formula. Here’s how we do it. Buy a bag of alfalfa meal, some blackstrap molasses (Wholesome Sweeteners or Barbados Blackstrap. It doesn’t matter if they are sulfured or not). You’ll need a container with an airtight lid (a gallon milk bottle will work fine) and a funnel. Finally, get some EM-1 Microbial Inoculant (teraganix.com or your favorite grow store). Using the funnel, pour in 1 cup of alfalfa meal, 3/4 cup molasses, 3/4 cup EM-1. Fill the container with hot water (filter if you have contamination issues such as arsenic or excessive amounts of chlorine). Screw on the cap. Shake to mix molasses. Check the container every day for the first couple weeks, unscrewing to release pressure. After a couple weeks the amount of pressure will decrease and you won’t have to keep gassing the product. It should have a ‘grassy’ smell like hay and also a sweet to sour smell from the fermented EM-1. The exact dilution rate and frequency is highly debated online, ranging from 1ml to 2oz/gal. I diluted 1oz of the extract and mixed in 1 gallon of water and drenched the plants (I learned about doing foliar later). It worked out great. Most of my plants grew 8” to 10” in about 10 days. I also noticed a lot of greening up in the leaves of all my plants. Choose your dilution and spray your plants’ leaves. Since you are applying to the leaves to get the best benefit, you should mix with a sticker/wetting agent, like yucca extract. That will help the mixture stick to the leaf surface and give time for the plant to suck it up. The extract will be good for up to a year when stored out of direct sunlight in a closed container. During the vegetative cycle you can apply this mixture once per week (or bi-weekly). You can mix it with any other foliar nutrients and inputs. Mixed info about spraying after flower is out there. I asked a few growers about their applications and got all sorts of answers. Therefore, you will have to experiment and find out what works best for your plants. I imagine it will vary by the plant type. We suggest you try incorporating alfalfa into your growing operation, if you haven’t already. In our simple trial we saw quite a bit of growth with just one application. We are sure with regular applications you’ll have some monsters on your hands in no time!
Today is tomorrow evening and the result is: Very little N was found, but more then in nettle brew. Again I put fresh leaves of clover and dandelion in this brew to enhance nitrogen. Note that these testing sticks are very sensible. The highest reading is 250ppm in the case of nitrate, which is 0.025%. So if the reading is zero, it is really zero. Artificial fertilizer contain, say, 26% total N.
The difference between compost and weed tea and the reason you can recognize the plant material after composting is because the bacteria nematodes etc in the compost break all of it down cells and all and in weed tea the smell comes from the bacteria decomposing it but it only really gets softened nutrients are basically salts you know minerals the weeds are broken down enough to where a majority if the salts or nutrients can seep out and into the water of course it won't be all the nutrients but definitely enough to give your plants a boost
My sister swears by nettle tea and while I thought that a nutrient effect was highly unlikely, there was something that offered faint hope. A friend started a kelp seaweed fertilizer company. It had very low levels of nutrient but did show growth effects in good trials (done in a university environment). He believed, and analysis supported, that growth effects were from growth regulators in the brew. Apparently kelp has extremely high levels of some growth regulators during its extreme rapid growth. He had to sell the product as a fertilizer even though he didn't think that was the mode of action. I guessed that rapidly growing nettles might also be high in growth regulators. But I don't use weed or compost teas.
IF that is cobaltinitrite test for potassium (looks like it), then you should not look for color change, but turbidity change. Cobaltinitrite is orange/yellow and when it reacts with potassium is becomes insoluble yellow. So, filter the liquids first, then test if there are any changes. To me, the fertilizer test seems strong positive for potassium.
Was there any compost added to the tea to allow for microbes to do their job of breaking down the material? The teas I have seen myself had leaf mold and compost added to the mix and after it was done "brewing" for several weeks it looked nothing like what's in that bucket. But I do however agree that other's have not done their due diligence by doing any tests before telling you this is the best thing ever, they all just say thru trial and error I have figured out what works best for my garden...
I thought the value of the tea was in the bacteria, adding to they microbiolme in the soil. Plenty of bacteria in the soil, helps in the breakdown of the weeds and other micro particles in the soil. BTW there are ❤a lot more nutrients than NPK. Your test only proved that 2 of them were low. I have usually found that the tea is too stinky to use. I make it, than leave it there forever, but it is useful for breaking down seedy weeds. The seeds don’t regenerate after a few weeks in water
Yes there are more nutrients - but nitrogen and phosphorus are the ones that usually limit plant growth. Adding microbes to soil does not work - although a lot of people out there will tell you it does. ruclips.net/video/4F5uOXhDoB8/видео.html
Very good video on weed tea. I've been using it this summer and there is little doubt that it is great stuff, for us anyway. We did a full month with various weeds including wild lettuce, Didn't chop it at all, just pulled weeds or chopped them. Yes, more weeds and less water. My "tea" stinks so I put it downwind, no problem. Here on high mountain desert forest plateau it works very well. About 1 to 10 ratio or so. Seems to control pests too?
Thanks for the research. I have portulaca, and lots of it. I want to soak it in water to extract nitrogen and pour it over my compost to speed it up. not sure
I have always heard to put leaf mold into the mixture too. This mold is what helps to break down the ingredients of the bucket to produce micro-organisms that will benefit the plants through the soil?? You didn't say anything about putting leaf mold into the tea. Just wondering?? Years ago I used to make cow manure tea. My plants thought they had died and gone to heaven :)
I did this method in a 15 gallon tub. I forgot about it and it sat over part of a summer and all winter. It was the stinkiest rankiest sludge ever! I finally dumped it out in the flower bed a couple months ago. That's one experiment I won't repeat, and am doing the chop and drop method now.
@@kaabe41 Everything is healthy, but I have no real way to know if the sludge made a difference because plants in my other beds are growing well too. My experiment was poorly conducted hahaha
@@gigiartstudiowithartistvir3919 thanks for the response. so far, that fetid 'swamp water' hasn't killed anything. first attempt this year at a garden and so far, fingers crossed, things have been going well
I hope someone can help me. I put pulled weeds in a garbage can in my garden. It over wintered, has been rained on, and now is moldy green. Should I drain it into another container, dilute it and use it in my vegetable garden?
funny i came to this today, i just asked about testing this brew on another channel. I make tea from rabbit manure ,,, i dont know if its better than just putting it around plants but it makes me feel better .
If it stinks, it is rotten. The brew should not be stinky, the smell should be fairly sweetish as in fermented veggies. There is a protocol used called jadam.
Thank you for this video you have saved me from wasting my time .I had planned to try this but I am now discouraged,.which isn't a bad thing if its not effective.
For liquid feed I always use the waste water from cleaning the filters and syphoning out the bottom of my aquariums ..I've never bothered with weed tea.. Plenty of good home made compost and chemical free manure ..are the chief solid soil additives I use.. For alkaline loving higher ph preferring plants I also add a lot of wood ash..and I fork the soil over whenever I'm planting or moving something somewhere else..I try to encourage earthworms and spread dead leaves and half rotted leaf mould around the base of shrubs and trees..to give the bigger worms the food they need to thrive..I try not to use chemicals whenever possible..and prefer to encourage wildlife like amphibians and birds and ground beetles to reduce pests like slugs..
Thank you very much for scientifically illuminating these unspeakable myths and explaining why they are not true. I've been looking for a garden channel like this for a long time and finally found it. I would be happy to recommend you. Please make many more videos like this.
The idea behind fermented plant juice is to propagate and concentrate beneficial symbiotic microbes, not NPK. Please consider viewing Dr Jo Handelsmans excellent summary of US government research on microbes. It is peer reviewed government research, not home test kit anecdotes. Here is a link: ruclips.net/video/jN6zWWYfS48/видео.html
What if we added a bit of leaf mold from the forest that’s full of good bacteria wouldn’t that help decomposition and make the macronutrients plant available and then maybe use a bubbler to make it aerobic
I soak mine in urine after it’s filtered through charcoal in my biochar production process. Not sure what the NPK is but I get explosive growth when I use it. I use it straight on bananas and papaya. Everything else I dilute it with 75 to 90 percent water. Not going to test it but I get explosive growth. Haven’t burnt a plant yet. The biochar goes into the ground everytime I plant something.
To my understanding it’s supposed to be a 1-1-1 you can use regularly that contains live organisms from fermentation that benefit the soil. Not a 10-10-10 super fertilizer.
A year late but thank you for doing the analysis. I was contemplating on making weed tea for my coconut farm but the question of how much nutrients it contains has been bugging me. Thanks again for saving me from the stink! 😆
Thanks for this video. I was just getting stuck in the trap of thinking this was something I should be doing next year. I have a bunch of broad leaf dock which people said could replace comfrey. It's so easy to get tricked into thinking something is more worthwhile than it is when everyone on youtube is saying it's great and powerful for your garden and definitely, surely will have noticeable results. But it sounds like it's just one of our modern day growing myths. I think I'm just going to throw them into my compost for some extra green material this fall.
thats all fine and dandy but the anaerobic tea i made superboosted my plants and completely changed the hue of green the plant was. I think I'll take my chances with it seeing the results I've already experienced...
The concept of fermented plant juice is based on propagation and concentration of beneficial symbiotic microbes, not NPK. Please check out this great summary of government funded peer reviewed research in this area by an actual scientist: ruclips.net/video/jN6zWWYfS48/видео.html
@@narinthebeardedalien2994 I had a bunch of young broccoli plants and kohl rabi that were pale green and purple. And now they are all nice and green. I did nothing to them. They just found their footing in the soil.
If you have great rich soil then the tea probably won't do much more than application of compost or just mulching with cut down weeds. However if your soil is not great or starting new patch the tea would wonders in very short time. Most likely great crop in first season comparing to 2-4 season with compost/mulching. The tea is basically same thing as compost/mulch, but in next stage of evolution with nutrients available pretty much instantly without the need to wait few seasons for nutrients from mulch to become available.
This is a really good video. Thank you! When you drop a dead weed or plant on the ground to decompose, does much of the nitrogen get released into the atmosphere? I held this belief for a long time, but now I'm questioning it, as no scientific method was applied. I simply saw the grass clipping or whatever turn from green to brown. Many people would say while making compost that things brown in appearance are often carbon rich, and green in appearance is nitrogen rich. I always believed that fresh grass clippings would be nitrogen rich, and that week old, dried in the sun with good aeration grass clippings, would be lacking that nitrogen containing mostly carbon at that point. Do you know the truth behind this? Based on what you said in the video about these elements being tied up in long molecule chains, I'm beginning to think that the transition from fresh cut green grass clippings to dried up crumbly old grass clippings might actually not have a big difference in nutrients and the availability of those nutrients to plants.
Love your vides. Fully agree with what you say. Except nitrate in anaerobic weed tea ...? Nitrate does not form in anaerobic environment, only ammonium. Don't you think? But otherwise as the science study showed, weed tea contains moderate amounts of nitrogen (ammonia), and is a week fertiliser. I do not use weed tea for my vegetables. Fertilizer is easier, as is bird manure. A warning - it is easy to over fertilise your garden. That makes it a very good growing medium for vegetables and ornamental plants. But not for native flowers. On fertilised soil weeds will take over. So if you like wild native flowers, keep fertiliser away from such an area. Especially phosphorus sticks to the soil for decades and makes it almost impossible to have wildflowers instead of weeds.
If you squish a plant, the plant juice contains nitrates. Nitrifying bacteria also operate best in anaerobic conditions. But I don't really know the ratio of nitrate to ammonia in compost tea.
I'd like to see you do a weed or compost tea and put a large sponge filter with generous bubbling. I think its the anerobic nature of the tea that makes it toxic when undeluted. Using biological filtration, sponge filter. You create the perfect environment for the breakdown of nitrogenous and other bio compounds.
What about aerobic bacteria with a air pump, would this be different? I have a lot of Mares tail and Mullein, which might bring a lot of minerals from deep down in the soil. They wouldn't register much on NPK tests, but might have a lot of the other nutrients.
I use urine and rainwater and way higher volume of plant mstter and manure than liquids. I will have to test mine too. Fyi. Average bag od manure npk is super low❤
It has high nitrogen when it is fresh and green non smelly water. When it looks and smells like green juice. Not when it is brownish and smells like poop. Same day as you put it in the water. Test that for nitrogen.
a better way to use the soil test since there is alot of bacteria in it would be to first use the weed tea in the soil and after test the soil then do the same test with the control I think the nutrients level would be more accurate after as the bacteria are the ones that helping out in the process of releasing the nutrients. it is maybe not a fertilizer rich in nutrients but rich in bacteria that will be producing theses nutrients in the soil no?
Weed tea is basically liquid composting. But what those weed tea videos show is the disposing of the solids, where the majority of the remaining nutrients are still sequestered.
Thanks for the great vid...Do you know if leaving bananas in water for a week is pointless too, as there are so many vids saying they make a great liquid potassium fertilizer for potatoes, ginger etc?
I knew that weed tea does not have adequate amount of nutrients. Mostly i used this method to ferment the weed seeds which i have abundance of. After fermenting the weeds and the seeds I just dump them into my compost pile. Otherwise weed seeds can survive and sprout in my garden beds.
I use comfrey most arnd always add molasses i didn't buy it yet this year and my brew is not very bubbly Ive never tested mine because i didn't buy or know i could buy a test Some nutes are water soluble but not all It be interesting to find out I use flowering plants like dandelion greens and flowers, comfrey,docks, ....i look around the garden and find say yarrow... sunchokes Ive tried adding strawberries and watermelon rinds and rotting berries it does make it smell better Diluting well depending on what needs it and how much i have 1:4 or 1:2 Depending on if something needs a good boost say a broken damaged plant Or if i want good flowering and fruits I use my weed tea for my weed too lol works great for me Oh ya banana peels too.... Its done in two weeks or shorter because the bubbles stop When making compost tea you want the bubbles because of the microbes I also heard mixing sugar water and adding it to your garden gets the microbes going and your garden will grow too so??? Maybe the two week brew would be better because they still have microbes at thier higest I reuse the same plant matter because it does lower in mass so i add more plants and mollassas and start over Ive done this for ...oh over five years easy now impoving every year i think anyway except forgetting the mollassas this year lol.... maybe thats a good thing i will have a look at it
@@Gardenfundamentals1 the fibre in most cases is not water soluble except pectins in fruits So it would make sense that most of the plant matter is still there
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My guess would be done correctly it feeds the soil biology, which does the job of breaking down organic matter/minerals for release to the plants. So it’s more about soil health, rather than just NPK.
yes
That's exactly what i was taking away from this video. It doesn't feed the macronutrients but more so the micronutrients.
I think the point of weed tea is that nutrients become available after breaking down in the soil. Noting the JADAM method, as others have mentioned. I've observed noticeable benefits after feeding plants with weed tea made from their own plant waste. Strawberries with huge fruit output. Dandelions 18" tall after feeding with dandelion tea. It certainly raises questions in support of a hypothesis.
Interesting, never heard of using just the plants waist as a fertilizer
@Chris Beebe It makes sense when you consider that in nature a plant takes nutrients from its own deadfall (or other plants it thrives alongside) without any human intervention.
It makes sense that the plants contain the nutrients they need and those go back into the soil when they die and break down.
It’s very interesting. I met a guy two summers back that only fed his cannabis their trimmings. He passed all the test of a marketable product. Great size, superior nose, organic, fought bugs. Incredible
@@shaunblade2116yep
Properly brewed weed tea must go through the same process that a fish tank does when it initially starts, for the water to be used for fertilizer. Begin with ammonia (from decomposing finely chopped weeds) and bacteria (nitrosomonas and nitrobacter) converts it first to nitrite and then to nitrate AKA plant food. That process is aerobic and must be aerated at all times to keep the bacteria alive. It keeps the smell to almost zero. That process takes about two months to get to the nitrate production phase. Then you can start to use the water for fertilizer. Replace the water used each time. Keep adding a little more pulverized weeds each time you use it back into the mix. Repeat two to three times a week.
Essentially it is a regenerating aquatic compost tea made from scratch occurring under water for maximum efficiency. Aeration is the key to no smell and good fertilizer. A home made bottom under gravel filter used with 2 air pumps and lava rock in a blue plastic 55 gallon barrel with a mix of about 50/50 water to weeds starter batch every spring is what I use.
I admit I have never done the tests you ask for. Maybe you could try the technique for more content.
how did we farm for thousands of years before chemical fertilizers? compost, compost tea, manure, etc
you would never know !!! lol
Very inefficiently.
We used dead bodies and blood
People starved.
The indians dug a 1 foot hole by hand the size of thier hand, put in a fish head, threw dirt on top of that then planted a corn seed at the top. So as the corn grew, its roots would eventually reach the fishhead(fertilizer) and BING BAMM BOOM corn on the cobb. Is what I was taught in 3rd grade.
Leaf mold is used to break down the plant material, and make it Bio available, for use as a fertilizer.
my tea is black; there is hardly any leftover plant mass when its done; test trace minerals, like titanium in nettle tea; make a grow test, water 1 plant with water and other with water + tea and compare it after some moths; you dont need NPK and you dont use compost for NPK; its mostly carbon/caries and diverse soil life/microorganisms that matters
I think you missed the point of the video. Weed tea does have nutrients so it will have a higher NPK than water - known fact.
It's mostly an anaerobic bacterial compost tea, indeed. I'm not sure of the benefits, especially versus aerobically aerated bacterial compost tea..?!
As a fertilizer, and using "Weeds", that's the definition of a "Weed Tea" here, this video has shown it has no fertilizer effects. The anaerobic bacteria will actually feed on any fertilizer, if any was derived from the Weeds in the "Weed Tea".
Great video, showing how to get actual affirmation of whatever "fertilizer" you may trying to create, as well!
Thanks for the real work!👍💯🙏✌️
The scond year of my first veg gardens I didn't add more compost. Plants started to look pale when growth started to take off. I got worried,and filled pales and buckets with lawn clippings, and let it sit for just a few days. The grass was cut from the garden area, not a very large area compared to the beds themselves.
I stirred thoroughly, and watered with this green soup. The plants perked up quickly, and I could clearly see where I had run out of the liquid, these plants were still less green than the others.
I doubt tha I had heard of "weed tea" then, but when we make silage, which is basically the same fluid, we spray it on the fields as fertilizer. It creates algal growth in waterways if we don't disperse it over a larger area. This liquid contains quite a bit of sugar, wich feeds soil bacteria in a similar way to what root exudates does.
Fermenting it for a month would probably consume most of the sugars though, and again, it has enough NPK to create issues in waterways.
It is also possible that the nutrients in your tea was bound up in living obligate anaerobic bacteria, and that it would be released when these die when you add them to the soil. But that's just a guess on my part.
Btw, the liquid should foam if it is high in nitrogen.
I have been using weed tea for 2 yrs. The longer you soak it the better it is. I use 3 5 gallon bucket with rain water. I use grass clipping, any type of weeds pulled from my yard, leaves from plants in my garden, banana peels, kitchen scraps, my garden is thriving and my harvest are great and delicious. It's not a myth. It works when done right. Yes it stinks but my garden loves it.
What’s your analysis say? Let us know the numbers please.
@@canadiangemstones7636 Sorry number? I did not send it in for analysis. I just use the method the God use. When the seasons change the leaves fall and decompose in the forest and feeds the soil. Same concept, but soaking them in rain water in a closed bucket works faster. Also I chop everything first. I have a small garden. Maybe this is not something for a acre garden. But for my 25ft x 25ft bed it works. I can take the time and let it decompose properly. I don't use sticks, only grass clipping, leaves, banana peel, weeds from my yard, veggie peels, egg shells, etc. I also have a bucket with a drain that I let decompose on it on without adding water. Once the bucket is filled I add the water, close up the container. Let it sit for 30 days, sometimes longer. Stirring once or twice a week. I keep a rotation. Whatever I'm making my garden responds to it in a very positive manner. Lush green plants, very delicious veggies. That is the outcome I'm looking for. No Chemical Fertilizers ruining the soil. Build the soil and the plants can uptake the nutrients they need. Hope this helps. Try my way and then do an analysis. Hope you get better numbers. Let me know.
@@Sylviar357 Yeah but these are just stories. Our man in the video above actually tested it and didnt find anything. Now you can say he tested the wrong thing - for example it might be that what weed tea does is work the same as if you were regularly adding compost - but clearly theres a problem with the idea as it stands.
@LMcAwesome your man also noted how at least one test failed to detect something that was known to be present... so test failure being an obvious factor really makes all of his results questionable... I can say that the 50 gallon drum I've been adding and taking from for many months has decomposed a lot. The only material that's recognizable is only the newest added stuff... good weed tea is something you start and keep going continually. When things actually start decomposing, that's when you see the difference.
@@meettheworld6241 So true. I just keep adding material to it. I grow organic and this team feeds my garden and it is flourishing. I will always use compost tea. It's basically free to make. Long as you have a lawn, weeds, garden and it rains, you will have organic fertilizer for your families food.
I've had 5 drums filled with different types of plant matter such as grass, weeds, bamboo leaves, seaweed and a mixed barrel its been 3 years since I filled the barrels and this year I start planting.
We used grass clippings and did leave them soaking for over a month. I did not dilute it. Our okra plants “died” while we were on vacation, but watering them with this stuff at full strength brought them back! They made full crops of okra all over again.
So, the extra water they got - whether this stuff or just plain water - was enough to revive them. Have you done a test to see, you know, repeat the same conditions but when you return from holiday use only tap water?
I read way down in the comments to see if anyone asked my question. Where is the leaf mold? Bacterias easy to grow, feeds on nitrogen, nitrigen is high when greens are added. Microbes are aquatic, and leaf mold jumps into the water, believe it or not. Fungus is older than bacteria, and it started its life in earth under water. Fungus is the slow breakdown of plant materials, and release a lot of nutrients. Fungus can extract minerals from stone and maie them plant availabe. Skipping adding leaf mold is your mistake. You can use high quality compost as the digester as well, hopefully fungal compost, not pyrolitic. Chickenpoo liquid fertilser does it all on its own, it has everything it needs to do both parts of the decomposition. NPK takes care of itself. You can also use mre tyan 1 bucket of randomly chosen weeds. Jerusalem Artichoke turns into a pest control sauce. Chickenpoo, and anything that came from a blood pumping, bone havin creature is a phosphorous rich fert. Fish has fast decomposition tissues, and has everything a plant needs in it. Cannabis can be fermented and fed back to cannabis. Feed them the greens and roots and seed toyoung plants for Nitrogen, and hormones, and feed them buds and leaves and seeds during flowering season. Does this stuff click at all? I just learned, My results of my soil i create is cannabis seeds sprouting in less than 24hrs and 3 weeks later a foot tall. My oawn is deep green and neighbours admit its the best lawn on the street. I buy nothing from a store except buckets and Co2 breathers to make it in. Mimic Nature, do swamps have bubblers? BP oil spill was eaten by the biome in the great everglades, and they were astonished. I wasnt. An ancient fungal network, nematodes, arthropods, and thousands of trillions of bacerias ate it.
Well, it depends which weeds or plants you are using, and the quality of the soil they are growing in to begin with. It’s a good way to get rid of weeds. Then through into the compost pile.
The proof is in the pudding and since I've been adding fermented tea to my 28, 25 gallon container vegetable garden, it has never done as well as it is now. I'm not saying it was doing amazing before, but it has certainly made a noticeable improvement.
It may just be down to you paying more attention to watering and your plants.
@@theressomelovelyfilthdownh4329 Well, I do listen more & yell at them less.
@@pissrockdust5997 The neighbors haven't complained about the smell, but they have 5 cats, 1 dog, & a chicken in the house.
I know many folks who just use Jadam/KNF rotting weeds and vegetables for their garden. They add other inputs, such as leaf mold to break down more. I've seen the proof, especially on their cannabis. They did a side by side comparison with using super soil and organic, high-quality nutrients known to produce high-quality cannabis vs living soil and jadam inputs.
Both sets of plants grew vigorously. However, the living soil jadam had less pest pressure and appeared healthier overall. The yield was higher as well at the end, and the terpenes (smells) were more complex. The biggest noticeable effect was the price. 430% less expensive.
I use plastic corrugated tree tubes nailed/plastic tied to a post with a bucket under. Have 2 one for Comfrey and one for nettles, mostly in the UK we have enough rain to keep this set up working, the plants rot down and just keep filling the top, a couple of long nails to stop it all falling out the bottom, keep it going all season.
This is some great testing and great content. However I would like to add that when adding things to your soil it's not necessarily all about looking for NPK but more about adding organic materials to the microorganisms in your soil to help them thrive. By making this tea you are adding organic materials to your soil which will feed millions of bacteria and other microorganisms such as haematodes. By doing this they will create more nutrients for the plants for the plants when the plants tell them what they need
Maybe a stupid question but wouldn't adding the weeds directly to the soil add as much or more organic materials? Also if we want to encourage soil life wouldn't we want the microorganisms in the actual soil to do the breaking down instead of the bucket dwellers?
yes to pretty much all. People are trying to speed up the process. Based on an overwhelming weight of observation im guessing this tea method does work. Just not the way this experimenter expected or tested for. Not a stupid question at all. Edited to add: using wom bins to break down organic matter DOES speed the process up, as do active composting operations, but a lot of folks dont want to do those steps for varios reasons.
Science is great. It either humbles us or we resort to denial. Of course we should take industry-funded science with a grain of salt and and definitely consider any major biases.
Thanks for the info
I use grass clippings and banana tree leaves mixed in a tea now and then but I always use worm castings black strap molasses and kelp other times I use other meals in there and I have good luck
I have been making sting nettle soup for over 40 years. I put it on straight to my plants after it rains and if there is dry weather after the rain for a while. My plants grow very nice and the stench keeps pests away.
To get your weed tea to ferment and extract the most nutrients, chop your weeds finely to increase surface area , I also bruise mine before chopping , I also use an aquarium air pump and air stone to oxygenate it for a few days when first starting it. Adding comfrey and fish heads also helps tremendously , and trust me you'll want that stuff pretty far down wind of you as it's working off.
Ive heard people using it to jump start a compost pile, saying that the surplus of microorganisms in the weed tea supercharges the decomposition process. You should do a video about that. Make two separate pile of the same materials but add a bucket of weed tea to one amd monitor the results.
I think it would make a great videos.
also a myth. if your compost pile isnt made of disinfected material (which it isnt) then it has a brutal amount of microorganisms in it. You can measure this by mixing it properly to 1:30 N:C and checking temperature 1-2 days later. It will be maxed out.
Lol, now I have a stink pot of bacteria that I need to get rid of. Wish I had seen this earlier.
I’ve seen another method that used brown sugar to extract nutrients. Have no idea, but guess I will stick with granular.
Swamp bucket does a few things. It kills weedy/seedy waste better than the compost pile. It saturates woody waste with swampy moisture, softening it and making it accessible and appetizing to various digesters. The water contains the same kind of dissolved minerals and nutrients that would wash into the soil during a rain, but concentrated. The water is full of aquatic microbes which die when aerated in soil, liberating their nutrient content and feeding other digesters. I use a 100L rubbermaid trashbin. I add woody or weedy yard waste (especially thorny waste) loosely to the top of the bin, and fill with water to the top of the bin. I throw in a BTI puck for mosquito control and leave the top open to the rain. I freely add new waste if the bin will accept it. After it's been sitting a while, I draw some of the liquid to water my plants, then top up with collected rainwater. I keep cycling the water this way, occasionally stirring the solids, until the solid material is quite black and soft and slimy. Using a pitchfork I lift out some portion of the soggy solids and remove to a compost cone or empty trashbin. I find the earwigs and pillbugs go berserk for soggy swamp solids. By the fall, the woody solids have rotted enough to go under the mower with the fall leaves. In this way I am able to dispose of troublesome woody waste, and provide a kind of 'accelerated rainfall' to my plants.
So I guess it would be good to take some soil, split it into two parts, inoculate one part with the weed tea and aerate it, letting the water microbes die. Then do the nutrient tests on both soil samples.
Swamp? Only one person on yt I know who calls it that. Most people refer to it as coming from Korean Natural Farming or JADAM. Have you done any scientific testing to prove the dying bacteria release the nutrients or are you just spouting what your garden hero said?
@@HollyOak I am spouting conservation of mass, like I learned in grade nine science class.
I have the same thing going on in a Rubbermaid trash can. I did it by accident, though. I put weeds in that trash can and it has been getting water since last year. I haven't done anything to it. So should I scoop out some of the water and dilute it to water my vegetable garden? Or should I just dump it all in my compost pile, which has wood chips from 1-2 years ago?
😂 i was gonna comment ."energy is neither created nor destroyed" 😊 but you said it better. @@jeanpauldupuis
You need to do another test with leaf moldvadded at the beginning. It has more benefits. From my experience.
I checked the pH and ec with my Blue lab pen it was a pH of 7.2 and ec was very high.
I fermented it for 7-8 months with ground egg shells. In a temp of 80f.
The odor goes away some but not much. It does work well
What compound does the soil test look for? Which form of nitrogen? Plant matter in water breaks down to ammonia, to break it down further in water you need to use microorganisms to break it down to nitrite an nitrate. But I think plants can use ammonia as their source of N.
Thank you once again, you have saved me time, energy and have freed up my bins. No more stinky weed tea for me.
Wonderful to see somebody sharing knowledge based on science.
I appreciate your science approach, but was two weeks enough? I also question the materials put into the sample. I think a larger variety of plant material and longer time would change the result, as would aeration.
1) I used 2 weeks because that is what most others recommend. Longer is better.
2) The problem is that the plant material does not decompose that quickly. That is true of all plant material so what you use won't change the results. Decomposition is a slow process.
3) Few people aerate weed tea.
I came here from another video using the JADAM method. They said 10 day would be sufficient but some people might need to do it for 14 days, aka 2 weeks. That is the recommended length of time by many. Also, it is said it doesn't matter what you use, even just grass on its own.
Everything I know about fermentation intended for human consumption tells me that it does indeed matter what duration, what materials, and what method you use.
I think when people say 'two weeks' and 'whatever you have', they do this in a spirit of 'anything is better than nothing'.
And for a home gardener just trying compost tea and not sure what exactly to do, paralyzed by the myriad choices, it doesn't really matter if they hit the most efficient method for maximum effect - that can come later, or if they're satisfied, never.
But I wouldn't write the whole concept of weed tea off simply because the average gardener isn't that great at it.
I have struggled to make apple cider vinegar for several years in a row. I don't have dedicated equipment, I don't have a great attention span for tending to it over time, and I ve never done it right so I don't know what I'm looking for all the way through.
But it would be a mistake for me to write off the concept of successfully fermenting my own vinegar just because my method is off and my inexperience is showing.
I think there's value in the video, but I can't consider it a definitive 'debunking' of the idea. There's too many variables, and not enough established values. Soil biology is complicated. I'm not ready to completely ignore anecdotal evidence from hundreds of gardeners without a roughly equivalent set of evidence that they're misattributing their results to a different cause.
I use my kitchen scraps in a bucket, then I cover to the top of the bucket of water.. Leave it on my south facing deck for about a week, and man is it good stuff , my plants blow up a few days after I give
them this. I’ve also thrown in manure…works just as you’d think it would except it’s more bio available to them❤
I found this very informative but as a Bachelor of Science I have to say a few things off the top of my head. No offence or lack of respect is intended at all. I'm still experimenting with weed tea. The following are brief points.
My main reason for drowning the weeds is to kill them before putting them on the garden. I am trying using the diluted liquid for watering plants, and the hopefully killed weeds as mulch.
The lack of nitrogen is not a problem as I can get that from diluted urine which is sterile unless you have a severe bladder infection. An option is adding urine to the weed tea at the outset, which might help the weed materials to break down
Water from your well or bore is a good control for you, but a lot if not the majority of us will be using rain water or town water. If you generally water with your ground water your soil probably has plenty of phosphorus. A good experiment should be repeatable by others and ground water is a variable.
The lower concentration of phosphate in the weed tea compared to the fertilizer is also a function of comparative dilution. The problem with using ground water as the control is also highlighted here.
I have my weeds drowning in a 240 litre wheelie bin which was loosely filled to about 2/3 capacity with weeds and am going to try scooping off a little liquid starting in a month, and topping up with tank rainwater as I go until the liquid is pretty clear.
My control will be a garden bed watered with tank water only, and I will judge by comparing the harvests of a variety of plants common to both beds. Any other comparison is more academic than related to desired outcome.
I will eventually dry out the solids in the blazing sun and use them as mulch.
I don't have a lot of space and I need the food supply, so I can't be as scientific as I would like to be. Maybe you or someone can try the "proof is in the pudding" approach with a number of beds for comparison of rain water, weed tea, and commercial fertilizer ( which perhaps gets its nitrogen from urea - why pay for pee?) and other combinations.
Another consideration is burning the residue and using the ash in an informed manner, but of course there is the downside to burning the carbon.
I hope these rough points provide food for thought and that your gardens out there provide food for your healthy bodies. I definitely give this video the thumbs up.
You raise some valid points. There may be other benefits to weed tea besides just NPK. Looking at harvest yield as an end point is a good idea, so long as it is properly controlled. I would imagine peeing into your weed tea would bring the smell to a whole new level!
Measuring the impact on yield directly is important. But measuring and standardizing other things is too. Particularly if you want to identify the "why" behind it.
Making sure you grow the same crops and that the other elements of your management is the same is important.
I might consider doing a direct bed comparison in a section of my farm in 1-2 years or so though.
But, I could probably measure the source nutrients directly. And also measure the effect on microbe counts and respiration.
But, you can get a Haley test done to get the microbial biomass, respiration, and nutrient amounts from a lab. If you just took a couple beds and experimented with before and soil tests that would be informative. On a long term, any of the microbal stuff would need a 1 year study term Since, they are heavily effected by temperature and other seasonal factors so measuring at the same time of year gives a better base for comparison.
I am currently more interested in comparing the effect of multiple methods of starting new beds and the immediate and 1-year effects on the soil nutrient levels and microbe counts based on the method used.
As then once I confirm a best method with a local experiment then I can make all of the new beds on the next round of expansion use that method.
Thank you very much!
"My main reason for drowning the weeds is to kill them before putting them on the garden." That's a valid reason, but is not the reason behind why others make this or the claims they make. They are saying it's the water that makes the difference and even throw away the weed mass instead of using it. As a science person, you would know what you are doing not testing the actual hypothesis - that the nutrients are unlocked into the water and therefore, the water is the nutrient dense source and instead, you are using a known solution (tossing the weeds back on the bed) to prove a hypothesis that makes no claims about that method. Everyone who claims it works are claiming it is the liquid alone that is key.
How can using tap water for the control test be an issue when it was stated it was being used BECAUSE that was what had been used to make the weed tea? Using the same source of water for the control as you use in the weed tea is extremely scientific because you are testing water vs water with weeds added - effectively ruling out the water and then comparing only the difference between the two. You say you will be using tank water - but aren't you going to test weed tea made from tank water vs just tank water? That's the same test that was done in this video.
Thanks for the info...I'm going to test my stinky brew. 😊 I collect seaweed every spring, rinse it, blend it and stick it in a bucket with a lid. I stir it periodically and let it sit for a couple months. It's easy and the plants seem to be benefitting.
Any updates? I made and used similar brew by accident from rain getting in my seaweed bin.
When those anaerobic bacteria end up in the top layers of the soil where oxygen is available, they are eaten by the aerobic bacteria in the soil.
Exactly right.
I noticed the Potassium failure in that kit too when I used it. I wonder how the results would be if you didn't dilute it.
A few guys on the allotments make nettle tea. But they have it in a water butt for two or three months at least before they use it. Also, because they have nettles growing right beside them anyway. When it's done, nothing is left but the fibres. So I'd say they are getting something out of it. But they only use it to supplement their regular fertilizer use, or on things like cabbages or other brassicas.
I think they would be much better off just going in the watering can. Filling that up with water, and then using it on their plants.
Two or three months? Dude I'm concerned that my Nettle manure turned bad after one month. The smell turned from the sweet lemonade like aroma to that baby shit after it was done after a week, to bad breath smell later on. Could it be the anaerobic bacteria won and the manure turned bad?
I have my weed tea going over a month I add old bananas and coffee grounds. I'm still adding some more food stuff and weeds to my brew.
Can you add pruned off leaves from the garden Or Cut grass to add with weeds? Thanks
they make tea with fish tank bubblers also don't know if that helps but I don't bother I just use compost and granular organic fertilizer and fish emulsion and use no dig method works great no need for it and after my beds are established I only use compost
Thank you for this video! Finally someone who actually tested for npk
It may not act as quickly, but chop and drop works for me. Occasionally I collect grass clippings and spread those.
This is why I love your content.
Love it. Tired of people trying to get "likes" by peddling bs that hasn't been tested
I searched for information about bokashi and found your website. I love your additute and info. Thanks 🤠✌️
I think this is a good start. Following the line of thought that the bacteria rob the tea of soluble nutrients, I would be curious to see the tea tested over time to see if any P or K is released early and then disappear as the bacteria really take over. maybe with a better test kit. cheers for using controls!
So where exactly do the bacteria take the nutrients away to?
Great video. I have been using the green tea method as I have farmers friends and they spread very rapidly so was using the green tea method to kill the seed heads. Just pulling them up and throwing them back into the garden, the normally re- root and if they don't, they drop thousands of seed heads and you have a much bigger issue than when you started. Any idea how to recycle these but kill off the seed heads? (and composting does not work on these seeds). Thanks.
I love the video. I've heard it said that the advantage (especially with aerated tea) is the micro-organisms more than the nutrients. I *seem* to have an improvement when I used to apply that to a lawn... at least as effective as the expensive products you can buy to stimulate breakdown of thatch, especially considering I used chemical fertilizer. (Though it did require regular application, which is a lot of mulch water.) Like you, I found it better to simply place some steer-plus (composted steer manure and wood chips) atop certain beds. I figure watering over a season or two releases the nutreients over time without the stink. The best "weed tea" I found was decades ago, where a friend trapped the water runoff from his rabbit dung in a pit.
When one points out the low level of nutrients - believers in compost tea point out it is the microbes. It is not.
www.gardenmyths.com/compost-tea-does-it-work/
@@Gardenfundamentals1 The study you cite performed an analysis on aerated compost tea, which would kill all anaerobic microbes, then claimed tea has few microbes present. This is misleading methodology, especially since the root zone of all plants is anaerobic, or aeroohilic (very low oxygen). The symbioses from anaerobic microbes, especially fungi, would be completely wiped out by aerating the tea. I encourage you to please read peer reviewed published scientific literature that is CURRENT. Microbes do matter in agriculture. It is a scientific fact.
@@amateur-alchemist if the root zone was anaerobic that would not be a good thing as in the rhizosphere roots take in oxygen. Anaerobic would be a poor condition for a plant to live in so could you please explain yourself more on what you mean?
@@ericgronlund5729 reread the comment. It said that root zone is a low oxygen zone.
@@StringofPearls55 I have reread, it says “anaerobic” just before your low oxygen point. Now look up the definition of anaerobic. The comment didn’t make sense. Roots absorb oxygen, if there’s no oxygen, would that make sense? No, the plant would be dead.
I've been searching high and low for a video like this. Thank you so much. I knew there had to be a science behind this fertilizer tea method. I have tried it. I really haven't noticed any difference. I didn't know that it should help if the tea decomposed a lot longer. I guess I was looking at this from a self-sustaining angle. However, while I've got the money I'm going back to miracle grow! 🤣🤣🤣 Thank you so much for taking the time!
Miracle Grow disrupts the microbiology in the soil, which is important for the Nitrogen cycle. I would recommend organic fertilizers like Guano or Fish fertilizer. Best wishes 🌺
@hulmil but they cost more in the long run. You are dependent on them as long as you have a garden. Using organic - which isn't expensive at all- you build up the natural ecosystem and the garden will take care of itself. I use one bag of Spaghnum peat moss for $16 @ Home Depot, with 6 bags of Steer Manure ($1.88 a bag) mix it up and put it in my yard. I live in the desert where we rarely get rain and the soil is sandy clay. I use a $25 bottle of fish fertilizer that lasts 3 months. So it's not expensive at all. And when you understand the science behind it-- the Nitrogen Cycle, microbes, and how ecosystems work, it doesn't make any sense at all to use synthetic, especially with all the harm it causes our environment.
@hulmil wishing you all the best in this garden called life! ✌️🌼
Amy -
That is not correct. The nutrients in synthetic and organic fertilizer are identical.
ruclips.net/video/sQdK0plrvQY/видео.html
@@Gardenfundamentals1 I agree from a chemical perspective. The base nutrients the plants will take in are identical. But, those aren't necessarily the only thing in them. Although, non-nutrient molecules potentially might have negative effects or more complicated molecules might act as fuel for micro-organisms that can promote a slower release of nutrients.
As long as you aren't worried about potential contamination issues, then I wouldn't expect organic fertilizer to be better simply because it is organic. It is important to have slower releasing nutrient sources as well. Such as compost, mulch, or general organic matter content.
Your video also doesn't really touch how the ratios of nutrients. And also the carbon to nitrogen ratio is pretty important.
Having too fast of a nutrient release can result in nutrients being leached away by rain before the plants can use them. Although fertilizing as close as possible to planting, watering before fertilizing, and timing it during a time when heavy rain isn't expected can mitigate that. Or simply using a mix of them.
I would expect the biggest difference between fertilizer types would be in how long and fast they release nutrients.
Outside of the chemical side, I have been reading some of the literature, and the exact effects of particular types of fertilizer and various amounts is an area with a significant amount of scientific study. Both for grains and vegetables.
But, there are at least about 3 dozen studies that I know of that investigate the links of various types of fertilizer to microbe populations. Many of which involve long-term analysis over 10,15, or 20 year periods.
The form of fertilizer and speed of release definitely seems to have an impact. Although, I haven't seen a cohesive hypothesis of the details and the whys. We do have direct comparisons of the results of particular nutrient mixes and fertilizer forms.
There were some particularly interesting 15 year studies out of china that compared manure to specific mixes of chemical fertilizers which similar ratios of macro nutrients.
It wasn't a clear win for "organic fertilizer" in any way. Compost in particular when applied in larger amounts had a negative effect on soil microbes and respiration rate.
However, there seems to be a pattern of fresh manure from any source having a greater positive impact on microbial biomass and a-diversity.
Although, some other chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides were shown to have negative effects on soil microbes as well.
And different ratios and mixes of synthetic fertilizer also had fairly different effects on soil microbes. With some having a negative effect, some positive, and others relatively neutral.
It seems to be an active area of research where we have learned a lot of small things. But, most general sweeping claims I hear for particular solutions don't seem that compatible with the research.
And it is made more complicated since we don't really know how much of a difference elevated microbial populations has on plant growth generally. Although, there are studies that go into how being deficient in microbes in various ways can cause problems.
There is more reputable information available on their impact on decomposition rate. Although, that is also highly dependent on temperature and some other factors.
Many plants actively feed some types of fungi and are less adapt at processing and obtaining nutrients without them. Brassicas are a notable rare exception there.
And tests with potted plants have shown that sterilized or even soil with significantly reduced levels of micro-organisms results in reduced plant growth rate and biomass.
For compost Tea, I haven't looked much on RUclips about it, But the books I saw talking about it suggested that the fermentation and anaerobic brewing should happen for more like 8 months to a year not a couple weeks.
I would expect most of the nutrients in the weeds to still be in them after only a couple weeks.
I haven't brewed any of that yet. I still intend to, but I think I will get them tested for nutrients and microbe content to see if scientifically it is actually worth the effort.
I do think your advice about simply throwing them back in the soil makes sense. Unless the weed is rhizomes or has gone to seed already. Throwing weeds back into the soil is good for the soil but can result in higher weed pressure. So, in my view if the costs are low and results worthwhile, then finding a way to still use that can be valuable.
A compost that was intensively managed and gets hot enough to kill any weed seeds can be an effective strategy though. But, if you don't do that well you can just have more weeds when you do that. I have bought local compost that ended up causing more weeds and having unkilled weed seeds in it before.
I use an air stone on the porch in a 5 gallon bucket with a little worm casting and blackstrap molasses
This is pretty interesting but as some have commented you should have added some leaf mold (the logic being that its bacteria will help break down the weeds). Anyway I did that. This is my experience if anyone is interested: I put weeds (whole) into large mason jars and added water. After a few weeks added leaf mold. Had them for a good 7 months now. Yes they stink. The mistake I made is that I filled up the jars too much and when fermentation began the water started getting out along with the foul smell. Definitely don't do this inside your house! I plan to use the "tea" this spring and summer and hope it helps at least a bit. But I noticed something interesting: I got 5 jars in total and 2 of them have been fermenting almost all along while the others stopped fermenting after 2-3 months. Any guesses why that may be? Also they smell differently. The dead ones have more of a sour smell. The fermenting ones just stink to high heaven. I guess the more fermentation the better, right? But why should only some of them keep fermenting? I don't even remember having done anything different with those two... Could they somehow have different bacteria? It might be interesting to test both groups and compare the nutrient contents, eh? Thanks anyway! Great videos!
this test only shows nitrate. in the nitrogen cycle bacteria converts ammonia to nitrites and then nitrites are converted to nitrates. You would likely see massive amounts of ammonia if you tested for that. This ammonia can quickly become nitrates when added to healthy soil.
Have you considered inoculating the water with EM-1 so that the microbes won't smell bad?
You mean from the JADAM method? The method in this video is the KNF method, JADAM uses the EM1 and guess what - it also stinks. I've seen quite a few JADAM fans make similar videos and all say it stinks.
Very interesting! I think it depends on what you put in it. Some plants are more nutricious than others and I think it give your plants some extra boost in the summer. I also think some plants are not worth the effort and they will give of their nutrients when you just leave them decompose on the ground.
Nettles are really good as is Borage. Nettle water for Tomatoes and borage for brassica. Pretty sure I got that the right way round.
What you put in does not affect the outcome when it's about the method of getting nutrients out. If the method is useless, then it just means you leave more nutrition locked up in the rotting weed mass.
I run my comfrey through a meet grinder or use ground alfalfa and kelp meal. I use lactic acid and molasses to ferment in a container with and air lock. It has a sweet sour smell and the low ph keeps it stable.
Do you have to strain it before use or does it liquefy? And how much molasses do you use and how long do you let it sit?
@@francismeowgannou5322 sorry my comment got removed but I'll try to paste it again from the website.
We recommend doing a 4 week fermentation to ensure full extraction of the alfalfa. There are organic acids produced by the microbes in EM-1® including lactic acid and carbonic acid. There is also a small amount of alcohol produced (by the yeast) during the first few weeks of fermentation that will speed up the extraction process. Not to worry, the alcohol is digested in about a month by another microbe in the formula. Here’s how we do it. Buy a bag of alfalfa meal, some blackstrap molasses (Wholesome Sweeteners or Barbados Blackstrap. It doesn’t matter if they are sulfured or not). You’ll need a container with an airtight lid (a gallon milk bottle will work fine) and a funnel. Finally, get some EM-1 Microbial Inoculant (teraganix.com or your favorite grow store). Using the funnel, pour in 1 cup of alfalfa meal, 3/4 cup molasses, 3/4 cup EM-1. Fill the container with hot water (filter if you have contamination issues such as arsenic or excessive amounts of chlorine). Screw on the cap. Shake to mix molasses. Check the container every day for the first couple weeks, unscrewing to release pressure. After a couple weeks the amount of pressure will decrease and you won’t have to keep gassing the product. It should have a ‘grassy’ smell like hay and also a sweet to sour smell from the fermented EM-1.
The exact dilution rate and frequency is highly debated online, ranging from 1ml to 2oz/gal. I diluted 1oz of the extract and mixed in 1 gallon of water and drenched the plants (I learned about doing foliar later). It worked out great. Most of my plants grew 8” to 10” in about 10 days. I also noticed a lot of greening up in the leaves of all my plants. Choose your dilution and spray your plants’ leaves. Since you are applying to the leaves to get the best benefit, you should mix with a sticker/wetting agent, like yucca extract. That will help the mixture stick to the leaf surface and give time for the plant to suck it up. The extract will be good for up to a year when stored out of direct sunlight in a closed container.
During the vegetative cycle you can apply this mixture once per week (or bi-weekly). You can mix it with any other foliar nutrients and inputs. Mixed info about spraying after flower is out there. I asked a few growers about their applications and got all sorts of answers. Therefore, you will have to experiment and find out what works best for your plants. I imagine it will vary by the plant type.
We suggest you try incorporating alfalfa into your growing operation, if you haven’t already. In our simple trial we saw quite a bit of growth with just one application. We are sure with regular applications you’ll have some monsters on your hands in no time!
@@matthewking2209 thank you very much!
Today is tomorrow evening and the result is: Very little N was found, but more then in nettle brew. Again I put fresh leaves of clover and dandelion in this brew to enhance nitrogen. Note that these testing sticks are very sensible. The highest reading is 250ppm in the case of nitrate, which is 0.025%. So if the reading is zero, it is really zero. Artificial fertilizer contain, say, 26% total N.
The difference between compost and weed tea and the reason you can recognize the plant material after composting is because the bacteria nematodes etc in the compost break all of it down cells and all and in weed tea the smell comes from the bacteria decomposing it but it only really gets softened nutrients are basically salts you know minerals the weeds are broken down enough to where a majority if the salts or nutrients can seep out and into the water of course it won't be all the nutrients but definitely enough to give your plants a boost
I began doing weed tea just to get rid of / disable weed rests conteining seeds, disregarding its composting effective value
My sister swears by nettle tea and while I thought that a nutrient effect was highly unlikely, there was something that offered faint hope. A friend started a kelp seaweed fertilizer company. It had very low levels of nutrient but did show growth effects in good trials (done in a university environment). He believed, and analysis supported, that growth effects were from growth regulators in the brew. Apparently kelp has extremely high levels of some growth regulators during its extreme rapid growth. He had to sell the product as a fertilizer even though he didn't think that was the mode of action. I guessed that rapidly growing nettles might also be high in growth regulators. But I don't use weed or compost teas.
I think this can only be exlaines in one way: That these growth regulaters have a huge influence on the kelp root growth. What do you think?
IF that is cobaltinitrite test for potassium (looks like it), then you should not look for color change, but turbidity change. Cobaltinitrite is orange/yellow and when it reacts with potassium is becomes insoluble yellow.
So, filter the liquids first, then test if there are any changes. To me, the fertilizer test seems strong positive for potassium.
Was there any compost added to the tea to allow for microbes to do their job of breaking down the material? The teas I have seen myself had leaf mold and compost added to the mix and after it was done "brewing" for several weeks it looked nothing like what's in that bucket. But I do however agree that other's have not done their due diligence by doing any tests before telling you this is the best thing ever, they all just say thru trial and error I have figured out what works best for my garden...
Nice video. Thanks for putting in the work
I thought the value of the tea was in the bacteria, adding to they microbiolme in the soil. Plenty of bacteria in the soil, helps in the breakdown of the weeds and other micro particles in the soil. BTW there are ❤a lot more nutrients than NPK. Your test only proved that 2 of them were low. I have usually found that the tea is too stinky to use. I make it, than leave it there forever, but it is useful for breaking down seedy weeds. The seeds don’t regenerate after a few weeks in water
Yes there are more nutrients - but nitrogen and phosphorus are the ones that usually limit plant growth.
Adding microbes to soil does not work - although a lot of people out there will tell you it does.
ruclips.net/video/4F5uOXhDoB8/видео.html
The bacteria in weed tea is anaerobic, but the soil need aerobic bacteria.
Once again proving why you are my go to for quality gardening info 👍🏻 Yup I'm sticking with chop & drop and my compost bins.
Very good video on weed tea. I've been using it this summer and there is little doubt that it is great stuff, for us anyway. We did a full month with various weeds including wild lettuce, Didn't chop it at all, just pulled weeds or chopped them. Yes, more weeds and less water. My "tea" stinks so I put it downwind, no problem. Here on high mountain desert forest plateau it works very well. About 1 to 10 ratio or so. Seems to control pests too?
Thanks for the research. I have portulaca, and lots of it. I want to soak it in water to extract nitrogen and pour it over my compost to speed it up. not sure
I have always heard to put leaf mold into the mixture too. This mold is what helps to break down the ingredients of the bucket to produce micro-organisms that will benefit the plants through the soil?? You didn't say anything about putting leaf mold into the tea. Just wondering?? Years ago I used to make cow manure tea. My plants thought they had died and gone to heaven :)
Did you inoculated the brewing. Does not work with out microbes
I did this method in a 15 gallon tub. I forgot about it and it sat over part of a summer and all winter. It was the stinkiest rankiest sludge ever! I finally dumped it out in the flower bed a couple months ago. That's one experiment I won't repeat, and am doing the chop and drop method now.
How did the flower bed react to it?
@@kaabe41 Everything is healthy, but I have no real way to know if the sludge made a difference because plants in my other beds are growing well too. My experiment was poorly conducted hahaha
@@gigiartstudiowithartistvir3919 thanks for the response. so far, that fetid 'swamp water' hasn't killed anything. first attempt this year at a garden and so far, fingers crossed, things have been going well
@@kaabe41 I wish you much abundance from your garden. It's one of the most satisfying things to grow your own food.
@@gigiartstudiowithartistvir3919 thank you so much :) my potato vines just broke through the bags!!! very excited 😍
I hope someone can help me. I put pulled weeds in a garbage can in my garden. It over wintered, has been rained on, and now is moldy green. Should I drain it into another container, dilute it and use it in my vegetable garden?
funny i came to this today, i just asked about testing this brew on another channel. I make tea from rabbit manure ,,, i dont know if its better than just putting it around plants but it makes me feel better .
If it stinks, it is rotten. The brew should not be stinky, the smell should be fairly sweetish as in fermented veggies. There is a protocol used called jadam.
Thank you for this video you have saved me from wasting my time .I had planned to try this but I am now discouraged,.which isn't a bad thing if its not effective.
For liquid feed I always use the waste water from cleaning the filters and syphoning out the bottom of my aquariums ..I've never bothered with weed tea..
Plenty of good home made compost and chemical free manure ..are the chief solid soil additives I use..
For alkaline loving higher ph preferring plants I also add a lot of wood ash..and I fork the soil over whenever I'm planting or moving something somewhere else..I try to encourage earthworms and spread dead leaves and half rotted leaf mould around the base of shrubs and trees..to give the bigger worms the food they need to thrive..I try not to use chemicals whenever possible..and prefer to encourage wildlife like amphibians and birds and ground beetles to reduce pests like slugs..
Thank you very much for scientifically illuminating these unspeakable myths and explaining why they are not true. I've been looking for a garden channel like this for a long time and finally found it. I would be happy to recommend you. Please make many more videos like this.
The idea behind fermented plant juice is to propagate and concentrate beneficial symbiotic microbes, not NPK. Please consider viewing Dr Jo Handelsmans excellent summary of US government research on microbes. It is peer reviewed government research, not home test kit anecdotes. Here is a link:
ruclips.net/video/jN6zWWYfS48/видео.html
I've checked this with with a blulab pen pH 7.2 and ec was around 7000
What if we added a bit of leaf mold from the forest that’s full of good bacteria wouldn’t that help decomposition and make the macronutrients plant available and then maybe use a bubbler to make it aerobic
The point is that the amount of nutrients never changes no matter what you do in the pail - so why bother.
I soak mine in urine after it’s filtered through charcoal in my biochar production process. Not sure what the NPK is but I get explosive growth when I use it. I use it straight on bananas and papaya. Everything else I dilute it with 75 to 90 percent water. Not going to test it but I get explosive growth. Haven’t burnt a plant yet. The biochar goes into the ground everytime I plant something.
Can you use this fertilizer for kratky hydroponics
To my understanding it’s supposed to be a 1-1-1 you can use regularly that contains live organisms from fermentation that benefit the soil.
Not a 10-10-10 super fertilizer.
Here is what science found, www.gardenmyths.com/weed-tea-fertilizer/
A year late but thank you for doing the analysis. I was contemplating on making weed tea for my coconut farm but the question of how much nutrients it contains has been bugging me. Thanks again for saving me from the stink! 😆
This always seemed like hogwash to me. Thanks for confirming that!
Thanks for this video. I was just getting stuck in the trap of thinking this was something I should be doing next year. I have a bunch of broad leaf dock which people said could replace comfrey. It's so easy to get tricked into thinking something is more worthwhile than it is when everyone on youtube is saying it's great and powerful for your garden and definitely, surely will have noticeable results. But it sounds like it's just one of our modern day growing myths.
I think I'm just going to throw them into my compost for some extra green material this fall.
thats all fine and dandy but the anaerobic tea i made superboosted my plants and completely changed the hue of green the plant was. I think I'll take my chances with it seeing the results I've already experienced...
The concept of fermented plant juice is based on propagation and concentration of beneficial symbiotic microbes, not NPK. Please check out this great summary of government funded peer reviewed research in this area by an actual scientist:
ruclips.net/video/jN6zWWYfS48/видео.html
@@narinthebeardedalien2994 I had a bunch of young broccoli plants and kohl rabi that were pale green and purple. And now they are all nice and green. I did nothing to them. They just found their footing in the soil.
If you have great rich soil then the tea probably won't do much more than application of compost or just mulching with cut down weeds. However if your soil is not great or starting new patch the tea would wonders in very short time. Most likely great crop in first season comparing to 2-4 season with compost/mulching.
The tea is basically same thing as compost/mulch, but in next stage of evolution with nutrients available pretty much instantly without the need to wait few seasons for nutrients from mulch to become available.
Why does it work so well?
This is a really good video. Thank you! When you drop a dead weed or plant on the ground to decompose, does much of the nitrogen get released into the atmosphere? I held this belief for a long time, but now I'm questioning it, as no scientific method was applied. I simply saw the grass clipping or whatever turn from green to brown. Many people would say while making compost that things brown in appearance are often carbon rich, and green in appearance is nitrogen rich. I always believed that fresh grass clippings would be nitrogen rich, and that week old, dried in the sun with good aeration grass clippings, would be lacking that nitrogen containing mostly carbon at that point. Do you know the truth behind this? Based on what you said in the video about these elements being tied up in long molecule chains, I'm beginning to think that the transition from fresh cut green grass clippings to dried up crumbly old grass clippings might actually not have a big difference in nutrients and the availability of those nutrients to plants.
Love your vides. Fully agree with what you say. Except nitrate in anaerobic weed tea ...?
Nitrate does not form in anaerobic environment, only ammonium. Don't you think? But otherwise as the science study showed, weed tea contains moderate amounts of nitrogen (ammonia), and is a week fertiliser. I do not use weed tea for my vegetables. Fertilizer is easier, as is bird manure.
A warning - it is easy to over fertilise your garden. That makes it a very good growing medium for vegetables and ornamental plants. But not for native flowers. On fertilised soil weeds will take over. So if you like wild native flowers, keep fertiliser away from such an area. Especially phosphorus sticks to the soil for decades and makes it almost impossible to have wildflowers instead of weeds.
If you squish a plant, the plant juice contains nitrates. Nitrifying bacteria also operate best in anaerobic conditions. But I don't really know the ratio of nitrate to ammonia in compost tea.
I'd like to see you do a weed or compost tea and put a large sponge filter with generous bubbling.
I think its the anerobic nature of the tea that makes it toxic when undeluted.
Using biological filtration, sponge filter. You create the perfect environment for the breakdown of nitrogenous and other bio compounds.
What about aerobic bacteria with a air pump, would this be different? I have a lot of Mares tail and Mullein, which might bring a lot of minerals from deep down in the soil. They wouldn't register much on NPK tests, but might have a lot of the other nutrients.
Lots of ways to make it - but if it is not decomposed - the nutrients are still in the weeds.
This was really helpful. I’m making seaweed tea…guess I’d be better off composting it
I use urine and rainwater and way higher volume of plant mstter and manure than liquids. I will have to test mine too. Fyi. Average bag od manure npk is super low❤
You need to let the mixture sit for way longer according to Korean natural farming.
Have you done this with comfrey as many rave about it's benefits as a tea?
I've seen a hand full of compost or leaf mould added to the bucket...would that make it better???
NO!
It has high nitrogen when it is fresh and green non smelly water. When it looks and smells like green juice.
Not when it is brownish
and smells like poop.
Same day as you put it in the water. Test that for nitrogen.
a better way to use the soil test since there is alot of bacteria in it would be to first use the weed tea in the soil and after test the soil then do the same test with the control I think the nutrients level would be more accurate after as the bacteria are the ones that helping out in the process of releasing the nutrients. it is maybe not a fertilizer rich in nutrients but rich in bacteria that will be producing theses nutrients in the soil no?
Weed tea is basically liquid composting. But what those weed tea videos show is the disposing of the solids, where the majority of the remaining nutrients are still sequestered.
Why not use swamp water
Thanks for the great vid...Do you know if leaving bananas in water for a week is pointless too, as there are so many vids saying they make a great liquid potassium fertilizer for potatoes, ginger etc?
Yes. Add them to your pile
@@kylekoenig4730 thanks but what does that mean though, add them to your pile?
@@pissrockdust5997 OK thanks. Do you know the answer to my question regarding banana skins in water making awesome potassium liquid fertilizer?
www.gardenmyths.com/banana-peels-garden/
@@Gardenfundamentals1 Legend. Thank you
Compost tea perhaps? I have done this with apparent success.
Did you measure the nutrients?
www.gardenmyths.com/compost-tea-npk-values/
I knew that weed tea does not have adequate amount of nutrients. Mostly i used this method to ferment the weed seeds which i have abundance of. After fermenting the weeds and the seeds I just dump them into my compost pile. Otherwise weed seeds can survive and sprout in my garden beds.
I use comfrey most arnd always add molasses i didn't buy it yet this year and my brew is not very bubbly
Ive never tested mine because i didn't buy or know i could buy a test
Some nutes are water soluble but not all
It be interesting to find out
I use flowering plants like dandelion greens and flowers, comfrey,docks, ....i look around the garden and find say yarrow... sunchokes
Ive tried adding strawberries and watermelon rinds and rotting berries it does make it smell better
Diluting well depending on what needs it and how much i have
1:4 or 1:2
Depending on if something needs a good boost say a broken damaged plant
Or if i want good flowering and fruits
I use my weed tea for my weed too lol works great for me
Oh ya banana peels too....
Its done in two weeks or shorter because the bubbles stop
When making compost tea you want the bubbles because of the microbes
I also heard mixing sugar water and adding it to your garden gets the microbes going and your garden will grow too so???
Maybe the two week brew would be better because they still have microbes at thier higest
I reuse the same plant matter because it does lower in mass so i add more plants and mollassas and start over
Ive done this for ...oh over five years easy now impoving every year i think anyway except forgetting the mollassas this year lol.... maybe thats a good thing i will have a look at it
"Some nutes are water soluble but not all" - all plant nutrients are water soluble.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 the fibre in most cases is not water soluble except pectins in fruits
So it would make sense that most of the plant matter is still there
Thank you for spending the time to actually test this! I saw one of the videos in question and I immediately thought why didn’t he show a test.
Thank you for your research. Always wanted to know what the true base facts were but never had time to test it for myself.hats off to you sir.
Ok. You mentioned comprey
Really appreciate your knowledge and videos. Glad to have a replacement for Ed Lawerence now that he has retired from the CBC.
Great job looking at the real data.